Kim Possible: Darker Destiny
by LJ58
Summary: Sequel to Dark Destiny. In an alternate universe, not everyone is following the new emperor's whims. Only defying him can have deadly consequences.
1. Chapter 1

_I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Darker Destiny**

**By LJ58**

**1**

Ron Stoppable woke with a yawn, and stretched out the kinks in his back as he rolled to his feet, and simply nodded at the three people in his small camp.

"Hear anything?"

"A few jets flew over," the young teen at the mouth of the cave told him. "Nothing serious. I did see a few mutates ambling by earlier, but they didn't have our scent."

"Yet," Ron told Ben 'Brick' Flagg. A former football start until Drakken's rise to power changed high school, and the world. Now Ben was one of the few that held out, and tried to form a core of resistance against a madman slowly poisoning their world, when not just literally tearing it apart.

"Stoppable-San," Yori turned to him. "We must get this medication back soon. Our patients need it. Some, more than most."

"I know," Ron nodded, eyeing the blasted world beyond the cavern where they took shelter for the day.

No one moved in the Wastelands during daylight.

There was no cover. No defense. And Drakken's drones could see you for miles.

Ironically, the madman never figured out how to track anyone at night. Which, so far, remained their element. Just as well, since it was now his element, too, thanks to more than a few years spent in Yamanouchi before he returned to help lead the growing resistance against Drakken's madness.

"Too bad we couldn't just let you ninja into Drak's palace, and take him out," a lanky boy with cybernetic limbs replacing both legs, and his right arm.

"Even I know you can't take Drakken on like that," Ron scowled. "I wish we could, but with Shego, and his new robotic defenses, you can't get near him unless he lets you."

"And he's not letting you," Yori remarked. "As Dr. Director proved to her regret."

"What she proved, is that she was an idiot," the older Ben spat. "She wasted a lot of lives in a suicide run that only let the emperor know we were still alive out here. Now, the drones, and patrols are worse than ever, and it's getting really hard to sneak into towns to find supplies."

"She should have known she couldn't face Drakken, _and_ Shego," Yori murmured.

"Worse," Ron told him as the sun settled toward the horizon. "She cost us a symbol. At least when she was alive, she rallied people to our cause. Encouraged some to even risk helping us. Now, we've got no one. Especially with Barkin all but barricading the Tri-City area from our people once he figured out we were using Lowerton to resupply our colony."

"Barkin's a poser," Ben sneered. "One day, I would really like to return the favor he did me in vocational assessment," the young man swore.

"I hope you get the chance," Felix admitted. "The bastard took one look at my legs, and had me tossed into the no man's land out here. Didn't even think I could use my brains in spite of my body," he huffed.

"He has made Middleton a real pesthole," Ron agreed. "I'm just glad my folks got out."

"Stoppable-San?"

Ron turned to eye Yori.

"Gear up. Guys, I'm going to have to ask you to try carrying our packs. Something still feels off, and I think Yori and I better be free to fight, if necessary."

"Are we moving?"

"A little more time. I don't want any shadows betraying our movements, and it's still a bit too light for my taste," Ron told Felix. "But get ready to run all the same."

"You think it's one of his drones?"

"I don't know. I just feel something is…..off."

"I would listen," Yori told the men. "Stoppable-San's mystic intuition is the best I've ever seen next to our master."

"Not doubting you, gorgeous," Ben told her, not missing the way Ron's gaze flashed to him when he spoke. "I'm just saying, until I can see something in my sights," he said, picking up a laser rifle after shouldering his large pack, "I can't do much."

"If there is trouble, you and Felix run. That medicine has to get through. We lost two people just getting it. I won't lose any more. Not when everyone is counting on us," he added.

"We know the drill, Ron-Man," Felix said grimly. "Don't worry. I see anything out there, and I'm history. You'll need _rockets_ to catch up to me," he added with a smirk.

"Too bad we don't have one."

"Yeah. Fire off a rocket, or something, and let Drakken find out exactly where we are," Ben was told as Felix huffed at him.

"I was thinking we could launch one of his stupid nanno-bombs right back on top of his greasy head," he huffed.

"His palace is too fortified for bombs. Even The Chancellor can't get to him, and you know he's been trying," Felix reminded him.

"Yeah, too bad we're not in Europe. That guy may be nuts, too, but I hear he at least takes care of his people."

"An ageless question," Yori murmured. "What is more precious? Freedom, or security?"

"I'd like to have both back," Ron growled. "I won't stop until we do. Until we all do."

"That's why we're here…."

"Sssshhhhh," Ron held up a hand, his brown eyes searching the darkness growing beyond the cave. "Yori, put out the fire. Get ready," he said, and she used a foot to cover the dying coals even as both hands flashed, and steel-banded fans sprang from her sleeves.

"Do we go?"

"Yori, when I move, go out, flank left. I'm going straight out on three. Felix, Ben, you go right, and blaze. We'll catch up when we can. Something is definitely out there."

The two men tensed, and all teasing was set aside as Felix took up the spare pack in his right hand, his left holding a short, but potentially lethal taser weapon he had recently modified. Ben already carried an oversized pack made of combining his, and Ron's, and used both hands to cradle the rifle he held.

"When we move, you go without looking back," Ron said. "On my mark. One, two….."

He never said three.

Ron seemed to vanish in a burst of speed, and Yori moved with him. Felix glanced at the bigger, stockier man, and nodded, and they both ran out, and to the right, hearing a low, thudding stomping even as a gruff, rumbling roar pierced their ears with enough noise to make them both cringe.

"Mutate," Ben shouted, glancing back.

"I noticed. Run," Felix shouted as the two ninja behind them leapt at the nine foot hybrid of bear and insect that was very interested in the meat before it.

Ben had always thought he was in good shape back when he ran for the Mad Dogs. That was before Barkin dumped him in the Wastelands for daring to punch him when he tried to have him demoted in the local ranks just for speaking up against his stupid emperor. Since then, Ben had been learning every day just how tough he wasn't. He fought, and he worked out harder than ever, but unfortunately, there was no crest in this world. You stopped moving, and you died.

It was that simple.

"Go, go, go," he shouted at Felix as the roaring sounded closer than he liked.

Of all the mutates, he hated the insects worse.

You never knew if they would just eat you, suck you dry by inches, or try to stuff their eggs in your soft belly to eat you from the inside out.

None of which appealed to him.

Behind them, the sounds of battle gradually faded, and they reached open desert where they slowed their pace to a steady jog as they kept their eyes open under the starry sky that peered through the dark clouds here, and there.

"Hope it doesn't rain," Ben grimaced, knowing the acidic toxins that fell here could strip flesh from bone in but minutes.

"The forecast was clear. Of course, out here, clear is subjective. Let's just hope we reach base camp before anything else hap….. Freeze!"  
Ben froze.

Even as he did, four robotic drones flew overhead, and kept going.

Ironically, the patrolling drones didn't use IFR here. It was inefficient during the daylight hours when the temperatures spiked well over the nineties. Fahrenheit, of course. Rather than use separate drones for night patrols, Drakken's people used the same drones to patrol the dark wastes using ordinary motion sensors, and little else. So long as they didn't move, the drones would not lock on, and try to blow them away.

Another bit of irony was that the drones did help keep the mutate population down. Which also helped them, and their fellow outcasts, survive.

"Okay," Felix murmured, eyeing his right arm, that was showing a tracking node in place. "It's out of range. Let's move."

"Think Stoppable is okay?"

"Ron? Bro," Felix grinned. "I once saw him take out the last of the Bebes barehanded, and he never even got scratched."

"Whoa. I never saw them, but I heard stories."

"Yeah. They were the worst of the worst. Fortunately, Drakken never made any more. Yet."

"Why would he," Ben swore, jogging alongside the young genius. "He's still got Shego."

"Yeah. He does. If we could counter her, we might really have a chance. But so far, no one can face that crazy bitch."

"Not even Dr. Director," Ben sighed.

"It didn't help that her own right-hand man turned on her. I always knew that self-righteous prig was no good."

"Du. Yeah," Ben agreed. "Too bad he slinked off before I could waste him."

Felix eyed the big blonde, and shook his head.

"That's not our way. Defense is one thing, murder is Drakken's way. Not ours."

"I know. I know. But, sometimes, you gotta wonder if keeping the old law is doing us any good."

"When we give up on democracy, or the real law, then Drakken does win," Ron said, suddenly behind them, loping along as if he were out on a casual jog.

"Yori," Felix asked.

"She's flanking us. Just in case. Another hour, and we're safe."

"You don't think it will rain," Ben asked, glancing up again.

"No rain. Not this week. I'm just wondering what stirred up that mutate. Things that big don't usually come this far out into the sands."

"Good guessing. You think Drakken is sending something new out here he wants to test?"

Ron shot Felix a troubling glance, but said nothing as they all kept running.

Time, they all knew, was simply not on their side.

**KP**

"Shego!"

"What," the green-skinned woman complained as she looked up from where she sunned atop the west tower in Drakken's ridiculously oversized palace to his ego.

Or so she felt.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," the blue-skinned dimwit that actually ruled the world just because he managed to trick a few eggheads into working for him back at the start. Before anyone realized it, Drew had turned their tech into a robot army that literally crushed almost all resistance from the start. "You weren't in your room," he accused.

"Doy," she sneered, and lifted her magazine again. One from pre-Drakken days when people actually knew fashion, and didn't paint everything blue, or green.

She did like green, but seriously, there was such a thing as overkill.

"I needed you."

"For what," she huffed. "You've got most of the world in your tiny little hands….."

"My hands are not tiny," he ranted, holding up small fists.

She slowly lowered her magazine.

"You yelling at me, Blue-boy?"

"Uh, no," he grimaced. "Not at all. I just…. I really do need you."

"What now," she complained. "Someone hide your new tech manuals?"

"My…. I have new manuals," he brightened.

Shego bit back a growl.

"Just tell me what you need."

"I have a great new idea," he beamed. "And I need you to run out to plant a few special devices I can use to test it. After all, it's the sort of idea that you don't want blowing up right in your face," he allowed.

"Which most of your ideas do," she muttered.

"What was that," he frowned.

"Nothing. Nothing. So, what's it do, and where do you want it? In the barrens again, to try to take out those posers?"

"No. No. I'd rather not risk them sabotaging my work this time. No, I want you to plant a special pair of emitters atop, say, Mount Middleton."

"And why there?"

"Well, obviously, if anything goes wrong, that town is no great loss," he sneered. "It would be my final revenge against my longtime….."

"Didn't you already deal with the guy? After you stole all his work to help you take over the world?"

"You're pushing again, Shego," he grumbled sourly.

Shego sat up, dropping her magazine on the lounger as she eyed him.

"Not yet, but I can. Do you want me to really push, Drewbie," she called him.

"Uh, no. No, I don't," he sighed.

"Smart man. So, plant the emitters, and then what?"

"Then, I'd leave. If this goes well, I can write off all my issues with troubling rivals," he sneered.

"What now? A new disintegration cannon?"

"No! Something even better. I will open a hole in time/space, and simply drop all those that oppose me into it!"

"Wow, and then who would you talk to," Shego asked.

"Wha…? Shego, just do as I say," he thundered. Then grimaced at her expression, and added, "Please?"

"Fine. But you better not switch the thing on until I'm well out of the area. Got it?"

"I wouldn't…."

"And that is what you said when you almost blew me out of the sky the last time I delivered one of your toys," she growled.

"That was the exiles in that Wasteland! I told you, they sabotage my equipment lately when I try sending it there to test."

"Then maybe you shouldn't announce your tests, moron," she shot back.

"But how else will the press know to be there to cover my glorious….. Never mind," he yipped when she turned to raise a glowing fist his way.

"Just get the gear to my jet. Have it loaded by someone with a brain. Then wait for my call. If you do not wait for my call, and you do anything… And I stress anything that scratches the paint of my new jet, I will come back and hurt you. A lot," Shego growled.

"Fine, fine," he grumbled, and stalked off as she left to go into her private tower to change out of her bikini.

Frankly, he didn't understand why she sunned so much. It wasn't as if that green skin of hers was ever going to tan. Not that he would say so.

Again.

His last set of burns weren't quite healed.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

_I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Darker Destiny**

**By LJ58**

**2**

Shego took off from Middleton in a hover pod after planting the emitters, heading back to her jet she left at a safe distance.

You never know when, or if, Dr. Dimwit would actually listen.

Sometimes he did.

Sometimes he got impatient to try some new idea, and that was when people got hurt, and the dying started. Like the time his 'solar farm' vaporized most of the Midwest, leaving a desert sized hole in the middle of a once prosperous nation.

Ironically, he turned most of Canada into a new bread basket with a series of massive nursery farms using his new mutagen that grew plants anywhere, in any environment. He just ensured he didn't grow too much, because as he put it, he didn't want fat people in his world.

She didn't intend to call the Doc until she was back on her jet, and on her way to her next stop. Once away from the palace, she decided to have a night out, and was heading for California for a little real sunning.

True, Hollywood was defunct these days, but there was still a lot of nice beach out there since Drew passed a law that no one could live on the coast except him. Never mind, his palace now occupied what had once been New York, and he never went anywhere except to wage his wars, or toy with new tech. He didn't want anyone living on a coast, for fear it might somehow make others think less of him.

As if they could.

She had the men load the pod back into her private jet once she arrived, and then waited for the captain to signal he was refueled before she climbed back on board. She didn't like to take chances.

She had once had a saboteur use her refueling stop to try to blow up a jet she was on.

He failed, obviously, because she was tougher than most realized.

She just hated losing a perfectly good aircraft. So she waited, and kept an eye on everyone around her bird.

Nodding to the local guard outside the Denver airport, she had them cordon off her runway, and then climbed onto the aircraft to signal the captain to take off. She settled into her seat, and waited for a drink while they taxied, and smiled as she pondered just how long she could make Blue-boy wait before he called demanding an update.

She was pretty sure she could bluff him for a day. Maybe two.

Drewbie had no clue how the real world worked outside his laboratory, and yet he still issued silly orders about how to make others live.

She carried them out just to give him a sense he was in charge.

In reality, she had been letting their many sycophants and regional governors run the empire he had carved out of the former Americas for years. All she did was keep them in line, and usually that let everything run pretty smoothly.

Unless someone like that idiot harpy rose, and tried to bring her down.

That woman had to have been insane to have thought she could actually fight her one-on-one, though. Why she thought she could use her pathetic skills to stop her was beyond credence, but she wouldn't be trying again. Not in this world.

Of course, it helped her little errand boy tipped them off, and told her all Bets' tricks, and secrets. The little snitch was the kind she knew, and exploited all over the world. So busy looking out for himself, he didn't even stop to consider anyone else.

She made him a judge/executioner somewhere in South America. It seemed a good fit. The errand boy did seem obsessed with rules, and that place needed a few.

"Rollie," she called the pilot over her intercom. "How far out are we?"

"We're forty minutes from Old L.A., Lady Shego," the captain's voice replied.

"Sounds good. Wake me when we get there," she told him. "I'm taking a nap."

"Yes, Lady Shego," the man replied dutifully.

Shego settled in her custom built seat, and reclined back. She didn't mind the deference. She didn't mind the fear and respect. She certainly didn't mind the power, or getting anything she wanted, when she wanted.

It was just she was so…bored.

**KP**

"We just received word that the emperor is about to test some new technology atop Mount Middleton," Vivian Porter told the group as they huddled around the stone used as a table in the cavern not far from the Tri-City valley. "We aren't sure what it is, but we have to accept that if it is his…."

"It's bad news," Ron Stoppable agreed.

"Very bad," Felix nodded. "So, do we try to sabotage it like the last one?"

"Unfortunately, we can't. He's gotten….. I hate to say smarter. But he's using a long-range, satellite interface to activate the weapon. It could be that he's only waiting for us to show so he can trigger it when any of us show."

"And if we don't," Brick asked. "How many die this time?"

"Yori and I will go," Ron said quietly when everyone looked grim, no one answering.

"You," Vivian asked. "Ron, you just got back, and….."

"No one knows that region better than we do. No one is more capable of defending ourselves. We're also the stealthiest pair here," he added. "Let's face it, most of your other field agents are still in medical after that last fiasco in St. Louis."

The former robotics expert sighed, but couldn't argue.

She was but one of many forced out of her field by a madman that refused to have anyone smarter than he was working in his 'perfect' nation. Rather than end up another piece of fluff in the clubs servicing the man's lackeys, she ran for the Wastelands herself, bringing two of her best robots, and a wealth of knowledge with her. The robots were long since gone, having sacrificed themselves to save lives in past operations.

"All right. But only if Dash agrees," she nodded, naming the underground's current leader.

Dash Damont, once head of a band of true heroes, fled certain death himself after his teammates turned on him to curry favor with the emperor. Dash had taught them all a great deal about surviving in extreme conditions, and their secret colony would have been doomed from the start without his efforts. It had been he who first found, and brought in Dr. Director, but even he had not been able to stop that woman from trying to face Shego alone.

"I'll talk to him on my way out," Ron said, his tone implying he was going either way. "Meanwhile, everyone needs to lay low until this….new experiment is over. Just in case it is a trap."

"Yet you still intend….?"

"Dr. P," Ron cut her off. "Someone has to find out what is going on out there. We both know what happens when we wait too long for answers."

Vivian couldn't counter that one as Ron and Yori left the cavern. She was still grimacing over the last fiasco they had faced when she talked them into staying back when Drakken's lackeys turned loose mutant hybrids in the Wastelands. What she had felt was a ploy then proved only to be the emperor cleaning out his overcrowded labs of monstrous experiments. Experiments that quickly went to ground, and began to reproduce.

Now, anyone venturing out into the once lifeless barrens was taking their lives into their own hands. Even the emperor's people didn't unnecessarily visit now. Not unless they were dropping off more trouble, and bringing a great deal of firepower.

"All right. Just….be careful," Vivian sent after him. "We can't afford to lose you. Either of you."

"No big, Dr. P," Ron shot over his shoulder. "It's a walk in the park."

"Hai. A big, dry sandy park," Yori added as she eyed her friend.

Ron only chortled, and kept going.

**KP**

"Lady Shego," the pilot buzzed her on the intercom as they were flying back toward the palace after a full five days of sweet, relaxing peace and quiet. Even Blue-boy didn't call her. Not once. Which meant that either things were going very well for a change. Or, he was ignoring all the usual trouble again.

Frankly, she was betting on the latter.

Which was why she sighed when the pilot buzzed.

"What," she growled.

"We have a priority call out of Middleton, Lady Shego," the pilot informed her. "Governor Barkin is calling."

"What's that jerk want now," she sighed, wishing she had dropped him in a shark tank when she had the chance.

"Lady, he claims they have a Glyph at the local assessment center. He wants to know what he should do."

Shego blinked, then grinned.

"Is he actually saying he has a problem he can't hammer into oblivion with his less than capable skills," she chortled. "This, I have to see. All right, divert, and take us to Middleton. I want to see this one myself. Could be good for a laugh."

"But, Lady Shego, if there is a Glyph, shouldn't the emperor be notified," her hitherto silent aide sitting across the aisle from her asked fearfully.

She glowered at the nondescript man holding a PDA.

"And what would he do if we called?"

The man whimpered.

Wuss.

"What," she barked, as she felt the aircraft turning.

It was a sweet ride, but she still missed flying her own jet. Too bad every time she tried, someone tried blowing it out of the sky. Now, they at least hesitated, since it meant they weren't sure if anyone of importance were aboard or not when she flew the 'company' jets.

Or if it were another trap to lure the jerks still protesting Drakken's rule out.

Still, she missed flying herself.

Alone.

"Well," she growled when the wimp still hadn't answered as she glared at him.

"He…. He….. Would likely….."

"Call me, and tell me to deal with it. Well, this is me, dealing with it. So shut up, and put it in my 'To do' list, moron."

She rolled her eyes as the man quickly opened the electronic day-planner that was linked to the palace computers to keep the emperor aware of her activities, and her schedule so he didn't lose track of her. Or bother her when she didn't want to be bothered.

Even the emperor knew that could be a dangerous thing of late.

"Yo, Rollie," she called the pilot over the intercom he had already closed. "Stevie say what kind of Glyph this was?"

"No, Lady Shego. Only that he was holding one, and awaiting instructions."

"He's actually holding out on me, huh? Don't know if that makes me more curious, or more furious," she said blandly as the aide beside her shuddered at her too casual tone.

"Grow a pair," she growled when she noticed. "Jeez, you'd think you were about to get tossed out a hatch."

He actually paled even more.

"Well, not today," she shrugged. Then perversely added, "I don't think."

She was actually surprised to see him actually trying to shrink down into his seat.

She'd laugh, if it weren't so pathetic.

**KP**

"Ron, wait," Ben shouted as he loped after him.

"Yo, Brick. What is it," Ron paused to look back toward him as Yori kept her eyes on the horizon before them. Standing just outside the colony defenses, you never knew what waited for you. Being careless even this close to refuge was a sure way to die.

It had happened all too often.

"We just got word," the big former jock told him grimly. Dash said to keep extra close eyes on Middleton. Word is, Shego herself may be in the area overseeing this one."

"Shego," Yori hissed, turning to eye the man.

Ron looked beyond grim now.

They all knew that Yori's cousin Hirotaka had died at her hands when the Enforcer had tried to take out Yamanouchi years ago in the emperor's rise to power. To this day, they didn't know if anyone else had survived, or not. Yori had only survived because she had been bringing Ron's adopted sister home.

There was an irony in that she arrived just as Drakken's Enforcer struck at Yamanouchi, the blue man's lieutenant Monkey Fist having warned him of their power, and likelihood they would interfere. His parents took Hanna, and fled the country at the time. Ron took Yori, still high on Drakken's kill list, and fled for the mountains, and the region beyond that soon became known as the Wastelands after Drakken got through with the Midwest.

"This is confirmed," Ron finally asked.

"Dash's inside man confirmed it himself. Shego personally appeared in Middleton carrying something big for the emperor. No one knows what, or why, though. They only know it's now on top of Mount Middleton."

"Then we should waste no more time," Yori declared. "Come, Stoppable-San. We must learn what deviltry is climbing from the pit now."

"Agreed. Thanks, Brick. Watch your own back while we're gone," he said pointedly.

"Hey, monkey-boy," The bigger man grinned. "We're not all helpless runaways," he smirked, and patted the rifle he cradled in one hand. "Just go do what you do. And if you can hurt that green bitch….."

"Consider it a priority on my own to-do list," Ron said coolly.

"One we share," Yori declared with as much emotion as the impassive girl ever seemed to show. Which, Ben knew, wasn't much.

"Let's jet," Ron nodded to her. "Ready?"

"As you say, ready and eager to go," she smiled at him.

The only time she smiled of late.

Ron didn't misunderstand her feelings. He just wasn't ready for anything complicated just now. Maybe, he felt, not ever. His parents gone. His precious sister with them. He had no way of even knowing if they had really gotten away, or if they were just more of Drakken's many uncounted victims. If only the Lotus Sword had not been lost. If only he had finished his own training before Yamanouchi had been attacked. So many ifs.

One day, he really was going to have to face his own destiny.

Even if it did scare him at times.

_To Be Continued…_


	3. Chapter 3

_I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Darker Destiny**

**By LJ58**

**3**

"Pssst," Bonnie tensed as she heard the soft hiss as she trudged slowly home. Not wanting to go, but hardly having anyplace else to go, she was in no hurry to get there.

It didn't help that her mother was one of many who were a willing, and eager drone for Drakken's stooges.

It didn't help that she had just confirmed she was now locked into a life she had hoped to evade. She had studied harder than anyone, made all the top scores, and she was still locked into vice for the 'glory' of the emperor.

As if that blue freak knew about her, or Middleton.

No, she told herself, what really frightened her was that not twenty minutes ago she had literally been face-to-face with death itself.

She had seen the vids. Who hadn't? Drakken put himself and his personal Enforcer on every channel.

But to actually stand right next to Shego, the emperor's deadly personal Enforcer, was something else entirely.

She didn't expect her, or think it could truly be her when she first spotted Kim Possible, the class ghost who didn't stand out in looks, or brains. If the redhead could have gotten away with not even showing up at all, she was pretty sure she would have tried. Only truancy was now punishable by death under Drakken's new laws. It made a lot of kids eager to attend class that might have otherwise ducked out. Especially considering how lame they had gotten after the emperor had changed everything from science to history to suit himself.

Considering Kim's own mother, she didn't even have the brains, or the looks to end up one of the favored kids. Bonnie had tried mentoring Kim for a time, and they had even got close for a time. Kim was strange, though. Ever so often, she would just vanish, and no one knew why, or what she was doing. When she came back, though, nothing changed. Not really.

Considering her brothers, Bonnie half expected to learn they were experimenting on her. The evil little trolls were the kind to do it, too.

She sighed, and shook her head.

So how had Kim Possible of all people managed to interest Shego?

How had she managed to bring that evil creature all the way from the Emperor's palace to take a special interest in her.

The look that freakish creature had been giving Kim had been obvious, too. She was all but drooling over that mousy redhead. Her! Yet she had looked at Bonnie as if… As if she were nothing. A bug to be crushed under her heel.

Then, just when she thought that was about to happen, Kim had actually stood up for her. Stood up to Shego herself. She had never seen that girl do anything for anyone. Not in this life. Yet Kim had stood there, putting herself between them, and argued with death itself to let her go. After she all but insisted that Shego, the real Shego, spare her life.

When Barkin's security let her go, she fled the city square, and didn't look back.

She didn't know where Kim and Shego had gone afterward, but she had not cared. She was only interested in escaping what had been certain death at the time.

Walking blindly, and in no hurry to get home to admit her new vocation was just what her mother had expected, Bonnie paused as she heard the hiss again.

"Bon-Bon," the voice rasped.

"R-Ronnie," she gasped, looking into the nearby alley, and glancing around uneasily.

"We need to talk."

"Not here. Oh, God, if anyone sees you…..!"

"They won't. Tonight, the old tree house. Can you make it?"

Bonnie shivered at the fear that still coursed through her, refueled by the chances she was taking.

"I can make it," she murmured, covering her loitering by kneeling down to retie a shoe already tied. "Around eight. I can't be out after ten. They raised the curfew with Shego's visit."

A few people eyed her as they went past, but didn't give her a second glance.

Well, not her face.

She didn't have to call out to know he was already gone.

She swallowed hard.

Rising to her feet, she was suddenly aware of every law officer, and security enforcer on the street.

Did they notice her?

Did they notice the shadows in the alley that weren't real shadows?

Did the heard anything.

One enforcer looked her way, but his expression was blatant, and never rose above her chest.

Which reminded her of her future.

Maybe she should run away. Like so many had. Or were forced to do. Only Bonnie had to admit the truth even to herself. Especially to herself.

She was a coward. One that could never survive as others had apparently done if Ron were any judge. Not out there.

She might help Ron, but only because she feared what might happen to them if someone caught him, and her name were mentioned. Or worse, if someone came for her family. As much as she sometimes hated her own family, they were still hers. Without them, she had…..nothing.

No real friends. No real place in life at all.

When, she wondered, did she first realize how little meaning her life had?

Sighing, she thought of the career posting in her pocket, and trudged home.

Tomorrow night would be the first official night of her new career. Her new life. Maybe she should ask Ron to carry her off with him this time. Maybe…..

Only she knew she wouldn't.

She didn't have that kind of courage.

**KP**

"You're late," Vivian snapped when Ron finally made it back to the colony.

"We were delayed," Ron said grimly. "And you're going to want to hear this one."

"Report," she said, not bothering to call the others in just then. It was well after midnight, and her people needed their rest. Things had been tense enough with their major defender away, and rumors of Drakken's new testing in the area.

"Shego was there. Whatever she did, all it did was create a massive landslide that cut off Middleton for a few days. We had to slip into the work crew to get in and out without notice. It worked, though, so don't worry."

"In. You went _into_ Middleton," Vivian hissed. "Are you insane? If anyone spotted you….?"

"I saw Bonnie."

"I'm still not sure I trust that one. She could turn on us."

"She is too afraid to talk. She fears….everything," Yori told her.

"Exactly," Vivian Porter spat. "She'd be the kind to turn on us to save her own skin."

"No, she'd be too afraid to say anything to anyone for any reason," Ron added. "Besides, in her way, she is a friend. And she told us something….interesting."

"How interesting?"

"Shego came back to Middleton after the test."

"To see how it went, no doubt," the former robotics expert huffed.

"No. To secure a Glyph. One she chose to take back with her."

"A Glyph," Vivian exclaimed. "In Middleton? Who?"

"Kim Possible," Ron said.

Vivian stared.

"James and Ann's daughter," she recalled the quiet, little girl that had once been so boisterous. "She's a Glyph?"

"There's more. Rumor was, she fought Shego to a standstill. _Barehanded,"_ Ron told her.

The woman gaped at him.

"You have to be….."

"And Shego is listening to her. When Bonnie encountered them when Shego was about to drag her off…. Or, more accurately, carry her off, Kim saved Bonnie's life. Shego seems to be….listening to her. Even called her…..a princess."

Vivian scowled.

"A princess? Did anyone know this woman could fight? Or fight so well," she sputtered.

"No clue. I saw her around in the early days. But she was….a nonentity. Then I went to Japan, and lost touch."

"James. James must have done something to her in secret," she decided.

"Or the twins. Rumor claims they can do some pretty crazy things," Ron said grimly. "Who knows what those two are up to lately? I still haven't forgotten the time they sent out those mind-controlled suicide bombers. Drakken may be bad, but those two are real evil."

"No argument," Vivian cut him off. "What of Kim? You said Shego dragged her off….?"

"More like carried her off. As in, this is Bonnie's own words, she was drooling over her."

The blonde frowned again.

"So, Possible can fight, and Shego likes her because….why? That makes no sense," she frowned all the more.

"We heard a lot of gossip while we were on the work crews that confirm Bonnie's words. We also heard something else interesting just before we got out."

"Yes?"

"Barkin was fired. Jake Hobble is the new regional governor as of now."

"He's not too extreme. This may be in our favor," Vivian murmured.

"Hai," Yori nodded. "He has already changed a few things. At least, as much as one dares in this mad world."

"What do you mean?"

"He relaxed the labor cycles, stopped jailing people on minor offenses, and is apparently ending the curfews except for civil emergencies." Ron drew a breath, and added, "He also pointedly looked away when he spotted Yori loading the medical supplies we…..borrowed into the cart we dragged back," he admitted.

"Medical supplies?"

"They seemed to have spare resources at the site of the landslide being unused," Yori remarked. "It occurred to us we might have greater use of them. We both know we didn't bring back near enough on our last run."

"And he let you go," Vivian frowned.

"Pointedly looked away, and didn't look back," Ron admitted. "Maybe he remembered me. I don't know. But we made sure there were no tails all the same."

"That's good news, I suppose. But let's not push our luck. He might be just trying to lure us in so he can take us all out easier than Barkin could," she pointed out.

"This, too, occurred to us," Yori told her.

"Meanwhile, we have a cart load of medical supplies we just dropped at the clinic. Should be good for a few weeks," Ron told her. "Now, unless there is something else, we need to rest."

"Of course. Thanks, Ronald, and….I'm glad you both made it back okay."

Ron only nodded.

"Meanwhile, I'd better talk to Dash. His people might be able to tell us what is going on inside the palace. After all, while no one stays inside, even Drakken has to have support staff during daylight hours," she grinned.

"I did wonder how his contacts got in and out," Ron murmured.

"Carefully," Vivian admitted. "I won't bother to tell you how many people have died in that madman's employ."

"I'd rather not know," Ron admitted. "The body count is already higher than it should be."

The scientist said nothing as Ron and Yori stepped outside, and he looked up into the hazy sky.

"Hope that's not rain. That's the last thing we need just now."

"Hai. Still, it would make anyone trying to follow hesitate."

"That's true. This would be so much easier if I could just…..find the Lotus Blade."

"You are not yet ready," Yori told him quietly. "The spirits will know when you are, and release it to you. I have much confidence you will one day be the warrior you are meant to be, Stoppable-San," she assured him.

Ron said nothing to that, because he knew what made him unworthy.

As unworthy as _Monkey Fist_.

Because he wanted power. But only so he could kill a few people. He wanted to stop madmen, true, but in the end, he wanted death. Wanted it badly.

And the mystic sword was not going to come to someone who was so fixed on such base things.

A true catch-22, he knew, because he was trying to help the world, but the only way he knew to do it was to kill.

Too bad mystic swords didn't have a clue.

**KP**

Shego sat in a nearby lounger, watching the redhead sleep on her bed where she had left her after a very long, and very sensuous workout.

That following a genuinely strenuous workout in her private gym.

Seriously, she had never been pushed so far, or so hard, as when that crazed girl came at her as if she were indestructible. Honestly, she could have vaporized her in like…..three seconds. Maybe two. Yet, one-on-one, face-to-face, Shego had never met anyone that could stand up to her, and take her on with her skill-set alone.

Until now.

This woman, she realized, did not even come close to matching the available civil files on her.

Then there was that very disturbing anomaly that popped up when she covertly had the girl scanned when they first entered the palace. Adding that to the comments the surprising redhead had already made when she had likely felt Shego had not been paying attention, and Shego, no genius, was still smart enough to put some pieces tighter.

This girl was not the girl she should be.

Or rather, she wasn't the girl that had been living here. She was, somehow, from another….place.

She should be locking her up.

Or just bug-zapping her, as usual.

Instead, she found herself enticed on a level she had not felt in…..a very long time.

If ever.

She ignored Drew's pages, nothing new there, and kept watching the little redhead that had met her with a challenge from the start, and didn't seem to know how to slow down.

Until she finally crashed not long ago.

Now, sleeping, and helpless, Shego could easily put her down.

Only she found she didn't want to try.

She just wanted to…enjoy her.

"Princess," she murmured, and simultaneously wondered if she weren't going soft.

She heard Drew's summons again on her personal PDA now, and realized she had better go talk to him. He might be an idiot, but he was an admittedly smart idiot. Even he might put a few things together in time, and she didn't want him interfering with the little redhead that she had found.

She'd face him as usual, and knowing him as she did, knew just how to distract him.

Besides, it occurred to her that this surprisingly competent Possible might just be someone they could use.

She didn't consider that she was already looking for excuses to keep her.

She was Shego. The emperor's Enforcer. She didn't make, or need excuses.

Besides, she had been getting seriously bored of late, and even Drew knew how dangerous that could be.

For everyone.

_To Be Continued…._


	4. Chapter 4

_I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Darker Destiny**

**By LJ58**

**4**

"We just got a report from the palace," Dash came in to report as Ron and Yori were sparring just outside the main cavern, and more than a few people were watching.

"What now," Ron asked, pausing to wipe sweat from his brow as he overheard the man.

"The Possible girl? The one you said Shego is mentoring? It's being said she took out the Chancellor," the former hero told them.

Vivian stared at him.

"DeMenz? She actually assassinated…?"

"No one knows. But word is she just got back from Europe, and the man is missing. Just….gone," Dash told them.

"Well, then," Ben Flagg growled, leaning against the rocky wall built to help defend their colony by emulating the rocky hills around them, rather than looking like a real structure. "That shows what kind of woman she is, doesn't it? If she is helping Shego…..?"

"Who knew that skinny girl would turn out to be so…..formidable," Ron murmured. "If she's going to become a genuine threat, though, we might have to move on her."

"Bad idea," Vivian told him as the monkey ninja stood scowling at the world.

"What? Don't tell me, you still think happy thoughts are going to…"

"Ronald, listen," she snapped. "And think. If she's running with Shego, then any attempt to reach her means you have to confront the comet-powered assassin that calls herself an Enforcer. _The_ Enforcer. Can even your powers stop her? And Drakken's machines? All at once?"

"I…don't know," Ron admitted.

"There are many variables here," Felix murmured. "Drakken and DeMenz have had a stalemate for over three years now. What happens now?"

"Not to mention, we still aren't sure just what Possible may be up to out there."

"Possible? It's obvious," Ron huffed at Vivian. "She's Shego's toy," he spat.

"Is she," Vivian asked.

"What aren't you saying," Dash asked, "Because I'm confused, too."

Ben's face twisted with a wry smirk as he admitted that.

"Big man actually doesn't have the playbook for once. I'm stunned, Mr. Impossible."

Dash sighed.

"A smart man knows his limits. And learns to work around them. I'm saying we better figure out what we do, or don't know here. So, give, Doc," he told her. "What are you thinking?"

"Speculating, my friend," the younger woman admitted. "But, think about. Kim has lived a quiet, almost unassuming life all this time. Never made waves. Never stood out. Never did…..anything."

"True," Ben admitted. "I think I saw her in school once, before I got the _invite_ from the blue dude to leave. Always seemed kind of shy, and backward."

"Exactly. Only now she's suddenly facing Shego on equal terms, and taking out world leaders? We're missing something. Maybe….. Maybe she's got her own plan, Ronald," Vivian told him. "Maybe….. I wonder if we aren't just seeing the open gambit of a greater move."

"How does taking out the Chancellor help us," Ron complained. "Or anyone?"

"Well, she did just prove she had skills that are valuable to two of the sickest tyrants on the planet. That gets her inside, and close to the throne," Ben remarked cannily.

Which surprised more than a few of them. He wasn't someone noted for deep thinking.

He smirked at all those that looked his way.

"What? It's a classic move. Like that time Butch switched jerseys on the sidelines, and snuck into the other team's locker room at halftime to get their playbook," he grinned.

Ron frowned.

"So, how do we figure out if she's really helping, and who?"

Vivian eyed Ronald, knowing how impatient the young ninja could be.

"We wait, Ronald. Sometimes, you can't do anything but wait," the blonde told him.

Ron grumbled at that.

"I'm going for a walk."

"Better not. Franky spotted more drones," Dash added. "Someone is stepping up patrols out there for some reason. I wonder if it didn't have something to do with whatever Drakken tested in Middleton."

"The machine," Ron frowned. "Whatever it was….? Do you think it _somehow…influenced_ Possible? Changed her somehow? Maybe that was why Shego came for her."

"That is a very good theory. We still don't know what he triggered up there since it was over before you reached it."

"We know it took out half a mountain," Yori murmured. "We don't know if Kim Possible was near it, though."

"Bonnie would know," Ron murmured thoughtfully.

"We cannot risk….."

"I agree, not me. Hobble obviously got a good look at us. And soft touch, or not, you're right," he nodded at Vivian Porter. "We'd better not risk being seen again too soon."

"You really think Bonnie might know more," Dash asked.

"It's very possible. No pun intended," Ron remarked. "She is, or was, very popular in school. I wager, once she starts at the club, she'll prove just as popular. And she's always had the uncanny ability to hear, and decipher all the area gossip. That's why I use her. She's always been a good source of local information."

Vivian frowned.

"It's been a few weeks. Maybe….we can risk contact. But not you," she flatly told Ron.

"I was thinking Ben. Our buddy Brick is just the sort that would come in to a club like _Brotherson's_, and look for a little time with a hot girl while he's resting."

"Well, I wouldn't mind a real beer again," Ben smirked.

"No drinking," Vivian spat. "You make one mistake, and you could expose us all. We don't want the emperor finding out all those he thought he sent to die are banding together, and surviving right under his nose. He might dismiss a few stragglers. But a stronghold? He'd come for us without delay."

"Agreed. But I have a ploy," Dash told him. "Remember that old truck we spotted down on the highway outside St. Louis? If we could get a good transport pass, we could make Benjy here look like one of Drak's drones, and no one would bat an eye if he decided to lay over for a night on the town on his way…..elsewhere."

"I suppose that could work. We definitely need to flesh out the plan, and fine-tune the details."

"Please, do," Ben told them, the burly blonde grinning as he flexed one thick arm. "I may not be heavy on the brainpower you guys have, but I'd rather not risk this bod doing anything stupid."

"Like scavenging the Wastelands dragging a string of wagons behind you," Ron smirked, recalling how they first met.

"Aren't you ever going to forget that one," the bigger man groaned as everyone smirked.

"You should have oiled the wheels. You're lucky we found you first," Ron reminded him.

"And that's why I leave the thinking to you guys," Ben shrugged. "Just tell me when, where, and how, and I'm your man," he grinned. "Now, if you're not going to continue the entertainment, I guess I better go relieve Doug on the west wall. Later, guys."

"You really think we can pass him off as a transport drone," Vivian asked Dash.

"Let's face it, his very lack of depth makes the perfect cover. His innocuous appearance only seals that cover. Since his family was killed in the first attacks, no one there will really even remember him….."

"Unless they were football fans," Ron pointed out.

"How long ago did he play," Dash pointed out.

"Two years."

"Close, but I don't think the PTA will be meeting at _Brotherson's_," he added.

"Very good point. All right, we go with it. Ron, you're his backup, but you will be completely incognito. Do not show yourself for any reason. At all. The first sign of trouble, and you all bail. Understood?"

Ron only nodded.

"Good. Let's plan this, then. Dash, what will you need to get that truck presentable?"

"We can fake cargo. So, all we really need is the forged transport passes, and maybe a few invoices to make it look good in case of a closer inspection. We might need a mechanic to help us fix up the vehicle if it's very bad, but at the time, I thought it looked pretty good. Just abandoned for whatever reason."

Understood. You and Felix leave at dusk. Get the vehicle, and get it operational. I'll work on the paperwork, and how to make our boy look legit."

Ron glanced at Yori, and nodded.

"We'll be around. If you need us," Ron said, and left the primary 'cave/house' that served as the colony's focal gathering point.

"You better rest while you can, too," Vivian told him. "We don't know what kind of timetable we have, or what you might be facing."

"Hopefully, none," Dash said as he glanced around as the others that had been watching Ron spar also went back to whatever else they did. "The idea is to avoid trouble, and if this works out, you should be able to stick to the shadows, as usual, and not have to move."

"We can hope," Vivian commented as Ron left without a word.

They all knew it was very hard for any plan to survive intact in this world. Especially when dealing with a madman who was as liable to change the rules on a whim, as not.

**KP**

Bonnie tried very hard not to stare as the big man slid a bill into her thong, and winked.

Because she knew him.

She had once mooned over him.

_Brick_ Flagg himself. Hometown hero, and the best quarterback in the region until Drakken finally outlawed sports, and especially cheerleading. He was supposedly recruited to Drakken's armies, but had chose to run in the end.

No one had seen him since.

Until now.

Driving a transport, apparently, judging by the nondescript uniform with the emperor's patch on the sleeve.

She swallowed hard, and wondered at his wink.

"Wanna…..talk," he asked, wagging his brows suggestively as she leaned over from the stage where she danced when he crooked a finger her way to summon her over.

He had completely ignored the admittedly prettier girls in the club when he had walked in, glanced around, and then came directly to her stage. He ordered a beer, sat down, and just watched her dance. Until he made his move.

"I'm free in two minutes," she said, her plastic smile firmly in place.

"I can't wait," he grinned, and winked again.

She knew what he likely wanted, and she hated it. She hated this job, but she hated this part of it most of all. All those years of ballet, and classical dance, and she was stripping on a stage for people that wouldn't know a pointe from a pirouette.

She focused on finishing the lewd dance for the leering crowd around them, and all she could be thankful for was that it was a weeknight, and not that many men were crowded into the usually raucous club.

Nine minutes later, she was leading Brick into a private room. One with mirrors, and a single, narrow bed. The nightstand had a single lamp, and a single drawer.

"You have to pay first," she said, pointing to the electronic reader for data cards.

"Oh, right. No prob," he smiled, and pulled out a very worn wallet with a monogram on it.

She eyed the 'TJS' on one corner of the faded leather, and frowned.

"So, what's your name," she asked as if not knowing.

"Uh, call me Tom," he said far too carelessly, and smiled as he pulled out a card, and swiped it, supposedly transferring credits for the room. A technicality that less than coincidentally paid for an hour of her time. The new law's way of ignoring the fact it was encouraging prostitution to help pay for the emperor's many demands.

"Tom?"

"Yeah, and….."

He paused, pulled out what looked like an old cell phone, and opened it up. Pressing a series of buttons, he didn't talk, but set it down near the monitoring device, and smiled as it started to chirp softly.

"Okay, we can talk. Ron sent me," he told her.

"And you're not really _Tom_," Bonnie asked quietly.

"Uh, no," he admitted with a careful glance at the apparent cell phone on the table. "Look, I need to ask you some questions. Please?"

"On the bed. Trust me, you may think you're being clever, but the boss monitors everything. Even bed pressure. If we're not on it, he wants to know why. And how often we did…..whatever, while not on the bed. His way of ensuring you didn't get away with a freebie," she said quietly.

"Damn. I thought all you did was dance. Are you saying…..?"

"What did you think you were here for," she asked. "Other than asking questions for…..someone," she said blandly, dropping to bounce hard on the bed.

Brick walked over, dropped beside her, and stared.

"That just sounds…..wrong," he said. "I figured a lap dance, or something. Not…..that," he admitted. "Besides, I really am here just for answers. I don't want to…exploit you."

"Then you're the first," she told him bluntly, surprised despite herself, because that was not his reputation while he had still been in school.

A girl every week had been his apparent credo, and more than a few people envied him his harem.

"Let's just get this over with," Bonnie sighed, and lay back, wearing only her thong, and a very snug halter top she had pulled on after her set.

"Uh… Can't we just talk," he babbled.

"The clock is running, Brick," she called him now.

The man jumped up, and backed away, looking around suspiciously.

"How did you know…..?"

"I was a Freshman when you were a junior," she told him. "I used to watch you play before the games were banned."

"Oh. Did I…..know you?"

"Freshman," Bonnie smiled from the bed. "And I couldn't get on the squad at the time. Then, later…."

"There was no squad," the blonde nodded. "So, you're not a spy?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that," she asked quietly. "I keep telling Stoppable….."

"Did you know Possible? Kim Possible," Brick cut her off, conscious of the time as she gestured him back to the bed.

"Yeah. We…..hung for a while. Not tight. But we knew each other," Bonnie admitted.

"Did you know she took out the Chancellor a few days ago," Brick asked, laying on the bed when she patted the place next to her, the pair of them eye-to-eye on the very narrow bunk.

_"She…..what,"_ Bonnie gasped.

"You hadn't heard?"

"No. I'm still reeling over finding out she attacked Shego, and _lived_!"

"Surprised a lot of people," Brick admitted. "Look, we…. That is, Ron and I, we were wondering if Possible were around that…..uh, landslide that took out half of Mount Middleton?"

"Are you kidding. I heard she was buried under it, but still got out. I didn't hear how, but she supposedly hung around to help Chief Hobble treat some of the wounded, too. I didn't even know she knew anything about medicine," she frowned.

"You ever see her fight," Brick asked.

"No. No, I didn't think she knew how to even make a fist. She let everyone pick on her," Bonnie told him. "Look, Brick," she told him. "I'm not stupid. You're living underground somehow, aren't you? And you're not alone. Are you?"

"Look….."

"It's okay. It's okay. I'm not looking for information to betray you. I told Ron before I don't see how I can help anyone. I don't really know anything. I have no real skills. Nothing that would be valuable around here. And….. I'll admit it, I'm a coward. I almost wet myself when that green freak stared at me, asking Kim what she wanted her to _do_ to me," she said, whimpering slightly at the memory that still haunted her.

"Yet, she…. Kim. She stood up for you?"

"Well, we were lovers once."

"Oh. Well, that's cool."

Bonnie rolled over, and kissed him.

"Boss is going to think something is up if you walk out looking like you spent the hour watching Lord Drakken's speeches," she told him, and then kissed him again.

"Well, wouldn't want to…..upset anyone," he said. "Just…. Do you have contraceptives. I don't want to take any chances."

"I'm clean," Bonnie told him indignantly.

"No, no. It's not that. It's….. I don't want to give you a kid. God, that would be horrible for both of us. And the kid," he exclaimed. "I'd never want a kid growing up in this world."

"Oh. Well, I'm on the pill. It's mandatory."

"Good. Good. I mean, you know, that you can't get pregnant."

"Actually," she said, and kissed him again, "It was sweet of you to ask. But you're starting to act like you're a…"

Brick actually blushed.

"No," Bonnie rasped. "But you always had so many dates!"

_"Dates._ I didn't….go all the way. Mom would have killed me for disrespecting a lady."

"Well, you're safe," she said quietly.

"Look, just because my folks are dead…."

"No. No, I mean….I'm no lady," Bonnie said quietly, back to looking miserable as she straddled him.

"Yes, you are," he told her, and pulled her down to kiss her lightly now. "Never think otherwise."

Bonnie smiled as she took over, and found it surprising that Brick Flagg, her longtime fantasy, was both virgin, and in her bed, and letting her guide him now.

She was smiling long after he left her, leading her out of her room with an arm around her, and loudly declaring, "Gotta run up to the capital, and then I may be back by to see you, gorgeous," he declared loudly, sliding another bill into her cleavage, and winking.

Bonnie couldn't help but smile again when he paused at the door, and waved her way.

And then he was gone.

_To Be Continued…._


	5. Chapter 5

_I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Darker Destiny**

**By LJ58**

**5**

"We leave the truck up ahead as planned," Ron said, climbing out of the sleeper to get into the passenger seat as Ben left the town behind.

"Right. I know. Too bad we couldn't have gotten a truck load of supplies, or something. That would have been pushing, though, I guess."

"Even Dr. Porter's people can't fake passes well enough to get a truck into a warehouse, or especially out," Ron reminded him. "We'd have been pushing just getting inside. With the shortages, food is more valuable than gold just now."

"And don't we know it," Ben said, slowing down as they neared the side road where they would hide the truck in an dead-end canyon until it might be needed again. Just in case.

"Too bad we can't drive closer, but….."

"Yeah, and lead the drones right to our main hideout," Ron scowled.

"I know. I know. It's just….."

"Stop," Ron hissed, already opening his door to leap out.

Ben slammed the brakes hard, the squalling of the old brakes filling the air as the empty trailer behind the old truck almost slid off the narrow road. Just ahead, all but slumped in the middle of the narrow, gravel lane, knelt a cloaked body that Ron was already approaching.

Had Ron not shouted, Ben might have run right over whoever it was.

"Didn't know he could see in the freaking dark, too," he muttered, having been running without lights since leaving the main road. The half moon gave just enough light to steer, but little else. He wouldn't have seen that shadowed figure until he had run over them if Ron had not yelled.

Pulling the valves to set the brakes, he made sure the idling truck was in neutral, and reached for his rifle before climbing out.

Ron might be a big shot ninja that could kill monsters with his bare hands, but Ben knew his limitations. This world tended to shove them in your face every single minute, of every single day.

"What is it," he called to Ron who was kneeling over the slumped form. "Who is it?"

He almost asked if it was another trap.

"An old friend," Ron said grimly, and helped the haggard figure rise as the hood of their cloak fell back to reveal a tangled blonde mane.

"Damn, she's skin and bone."

"It's Tara," Ron told him. "Sorry," he turned to the obviously suffering girl who was little more than skin and bone. "I forgot your last name. It's been while."

"Doesn't matter," she rasped, obviously parched, too.

"Better get her in the truck," Ben said, eyeing the trembling girl. "She doesn't look like she can even stand up."

"How did you end up out here," Ron asked a few minutes later as she lay in the back of the sleeper, curled up on the old mattress, wrapped in Ron's own jacket. They had let her eat and drink her fill as they drove to the place where they would hide the vehicle, and chose to stay to let her rest before they moved. After all, it was close enough to daylight they would have to sit, and wait for dusk again anyway. They chose to spend the day in the security of the truck for Tara's sake.

"I got tired of the club. Tired of being...used. I finally decided, if I was going to die…. I wanted to do it on my terms. Not…..theirs. That stupid club…. It was…. You can't imagine," she said quietly, her tone empty, and devoid of spirit.

"I can guess," Ben told her.

"How? You….. You're men," she said. "Are you…..going to turn me in," she whined.

The two looked at one another, and Ben couldn't help but chuckle.

"You're safe, Tara. We're not exactly real drones."

"You're not," she frowned, looking at their borrowed uniforms they still wore.

"We'll explain later. Right now, we're going to change, and let you rest. Don't worry, you're safe," Ron told her.

She stared at them.

"You're…..exiles, too," she realized. "But you look…..?"

"There are more of us than the emperor will admit, or likes to admit. Trust us, you're safe now," Ron smiled, and grabbed a small bag before climbing out of the truck as he eyed the rising sun. "Come on," he told Ben. "We'd better change, and then find something to camouflage this rig in case the wrong eyes come looking."

"I know the drill. Jeez, you're a lot more uptight when Yori isn't with us."

"She needed to stay and watch the colony in case this was a trap," he scowled as he jumped out of the truck, and pulled out his own ninja garb to change.

Ben just pulled off the snug jumpsuit, and tossed it into the still open door before pulling out a pair of well-worn jeans.

"Dude, I'm just saying, the only time I've seen you ever relax anymore is when that cute little….."

"Yori is a ninja warrior. Not one of your…."

"Chill, bro. Jeez, it's like I said….."

Both trailed off as they looked up to see Tara had climbed out of the back to stare out of the windshield down at them.

"You aren't…..leaving," Tara whine as Ron opened his door again, and looked up at her.

"No. We're resting. Travel in the Wastelands is a bad idea in daylight. We wait for night. It's actually safer," he told her.

"I wish I had known that earlier. It seems I've been running for days," she moaned. "I heard stories. We all have," she settled back to sit on the engine cover as Ron and Ben climbed into the seats again, realizing she needed company just then. "But the things I've seen," she shuddered.

"You learn to avoid them," Ben told her. "Or shoot them, and run like hell," he added, patting his snub-nosed rifle.

"My life was not supposed to be like this," she sighed, and stared out at the canyon walls around them.

"Go ahead, and rest," Ron told her, dropping back out the still open door. "We're just going to camouflage the truck for our safety. We aren't leaving. We won't be moving again until after dark. Don't worry, you'll be fine with us."

"I'm…..lucky I found you," she smiled.

"Actually….."

Ron's scowling had him trailing off as Ron gestured curtly.

"We'll…..you know, be outside. Plenty of water in the back there. So relax. Ninja-boy's right. We aren't moving till dark."

"Ninja…..boy," she frowned as Ben climbed out of the truck again, and this time shut his door as he walked around to join Ron who was eyed the scrub around them.

"You sure you should be making promises like that," Ben asked Ron. "It's not like it's really safe out here. Telling her everything is going to be….."

"She's already close to breaking. She needs food, and at least a week of rest. Only she isn't going to get it. Not yet. And if she tried to go back after obviously running away….."

Ben said nothing to that.

They both knew how Drakken's stooges took defiance. Just as they knew how severely they punished it. Which made it doubly surprising that Kim Possible was still alive.

"Still," Ben murmured.

"She needed reassuring. Not reality. That is going to be coming soon enough. Although, she probably understands it well enough herself after trying to manage on her own out here as long as she has."

"Can't be too long. She's not dead," Ben huffed.

"Did you look at her? She's been out here at least two, maybe three weeks. Living on the fringes of the Wasteland, and trying to stay alive, I doubt even you can imagine how hard it was for her. She's not been…..trained as we were. So if she needs a little fantasy….."

"I get it. You like her," Ben said as they took to cutting, and piling pieces of scrub, and old brush around the truck he had parked as close to one canyon wall as he could after leaving the old mining road they had been following.

"She was a friend during one of my…..home visits," Ron said. "If things had been different…."

"I thought Yori was your girl," Ben asked curiously.

"Yori is many things," he said somberly. "But I suggest you never refer to her as 'my girl' in her presence. Not if you wish to keep breathing."

"I'll take your word for it. So, you're saying you two aren't…..?"

"Is that all you think about," Ron scowled as he paused, barely sweating though Ben was already covered after their early labors following the long, tense night.

"No," Ben smirked. "Sometimes I think about a nice, thick burger. All greasy, and covered in cheese….."

"Dream on," Ron sighed. "I don't think anyone even makes burgers any more. Let alone anything good."

"One more thing to blame on that blue freak," Ben sighed.

Ron said nothing to that as he continued to work, very aware of the worn-down blonde that still watched them from the truck.

**KP**

"Dr. Porter," Ron said, reporting in after dropping Tara at the clinic, and promising to see her again when he had time. "We made it. Only we don't really have much to add. All Bonnie could do was confirm that Possible was….."

"Hold it," the woman hissed, listening to an old radio.

"…..peat, to all those listening, the false emperor, Dr. Drakken, has been captured. Shego turned on the madman to support Kim Possible, who deposed him in a daring gambit with the aide of foreign allies, and America is once more free. To everyone hearing me, the emperor is no more! More to come, but Kim Possible has promised that she will not replace the emperor, and she and Shego are even now working to restore democracy, and freedom to this nation!"

Ron gaped.

"Is this…..a trick," he demanded, only now understanding the peculiar smiles, and weary relief on the faces around him as he had returned.

"We're triple-checking now," Dash told him, still playing with the old radio. "I'm still trying to reach my contacts, but word is, Possible and Shego were in this from the start. What can't be denied is that the drones are already disappearing from the skies, and it looks like those two are serious about dismantling the emperor's power base."

"Just like that," Ron frowned. "It has to be a trick."

"Or, it could be just strange enough to be true. Still, we're not going to rush out to announce our presence just yet. For now, we wait. Even without Drakken, we still don't know what is ahead. And let's face it, the damage already done is going to be lasting. We still have a long way to go," the young scientist told him.

"Way to kill a buzz," Dash sighed, looking up from the radio. "Looks like that's it. They been announcing it every hour since dawn. We'll have to wait to see if they repeat it again in an hour, or add anything. For now….."

Ron frowned.

"Kim Possible. It just doesn't seem….real. I mean, the little girl I remember was so….."

"I knew her, too. Before James…. Her father….. Vanished," Vivian told him. "I think that broke her heart. Maybe," she added. "Maybe that was when she decided to start working on her own plans. Because it's now obvious that she was three steps ahead of all of us."

"I still don't get why _Shego_ would turn on Drakken to help her," Ron frowned. "It's too….convenient. I'm still not convinced."

"And that's just one more reason we're not taking chances. Stay sharp, my friend," Ron was told. "Just in case."

"Always," Ron murmured, and wondered just what the endgame in this one might be.

**KP**

"Bon-Bon," Moni shrieked as the brunette walked into the old mall, and spotted her.

Unlike many of the prettier girls in the Tri-City area, she had been put into a retail chain to control the flow of merchandise since she had some skill in that field. After all, even Drakken's system needed competent laborers to keep things moving. Monique had been lucky in that respect.

"Hey," she smiled blandly. "Did you hear about the blue freak," she daringly asked.

"Hear? It's been all over the news for like hours," the ebony girl beamed. "Our girl took out the trash, and even convinced _Shego_ to help her! Is that not like…..outrageous," she beamed.

Bonnie, who still recalled her own meeting with the green-skinned woman shuddered.

"You okay, GF," Moni asked her.

"I….. I will be. I just quit the club. When we heard we didn't have to follow the old rules….."

"I don't blame you. And let me guess, you still need a job to put money in your pocket?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "Only so far…."

"I can guess. Come to my office. I think we can find you something. After all, if I can't help my best friend, who can I help," the other woman smiled.

"Thank you," Bonnie choked out, still half afraid this was all some horrible joke they were playing on her, and someone was going to come for her any moment.

If they did, though, half the state was likely going to be in trouble, too. The minute the news had broke that Drakken had been overthrown, every woman in the club had been shrieking, and walking out en masse. The men had not liked it.

The women didn't care.

She didn't care.

"Anything," Bonnie told her as she followed her down the still mostly empty corridors filled with boarded up windows more than not. "I'll even mop floors."

"I think we can do better than that," Moni smiled at her. "After all, with the doom and gloom set tossed out, I'm thinking people might be ready for some real fashion again. So, what do you think about helping me bring out some slightly dated, shall we say.…underground fashions I might have stored away for a rainy day," she beamed.

Bonnie couldn't help but smile.

"Sounds…..fun," she murmured, and meant it. Because fun was something she had not truly felt in a long time.

**KP**

"People," Dash shouted as the dozens around him and Ron, and Dr. Porter all cheered, and shouted, and babbled questions they didn't yet know the answers to as the weeks passed, and it became obvious that Drakken really had been thrown out, and changes were already happening around them.

"People," the big man shouted again, holding up both hands. "Listen!"

"We all know the emperor is really gone by now," Dr. Porter told them. "We all know Shego really has turned on him, and helped Kim Possible overthrow his mad regime. No, we don't know what is coming, but we have heard that the women are genuinely working on bringing back a genuine democratic government again."

The cheers sounded all the louder.

"That said….."

She paused as the people around her vented their long repressed emotions.

"That said," she said when they finally grew quiet enough for her to continue. "Remember where we are _now._ We're working on getting you back home, if you still have one, but we can't just blindly rush into the Wastelands. It's a sure way to die. You know that. So I'm asking you to be patient, and wait your turn. We only have a few working vehicles, and not much help from the outside. Not yet. Meanwhile, we need to remember to stay on guard, and be wary. The drones, and guards may be gone, but the mutates and hybrids are still out there. Along with miles of open desert, and a lot more. Let's not make mistakes now."

"We just want to go home," someone shouted.

The crowd very boisterously agreed.

"Enough," Ron shouted.

When he spoke up, everyone listened. Especially when his eyes glowed that weird blue, and the one man that could face mutates one-on-one was well known as a genuine power.

"Dr. Porter has asked for patience, and so I suggest you be patient. We will get you home. But I doubt you want to run off in any direction, and stir up a nest of mutates, or worse. We've lasted this long by being careful. So let's remember that caution until you're all truly safe. Shall we," he growled before stalking off.

"He's still upset."

"Tara was the first one to rush back to Middleton when we arranged the first transports," Dr. Porter told Dash. "She did still have family, after all, and she wanted to try to get back to them."

"I thought he was hooked up with…..?"

"It's complicated," Dr. Porter told him, "But I suggest you not go there. Not where he can hear you."

"And Burn always wondered why I stayed single," he grumbled. "Chicks are nothing but trouble. Er, no offense," he told the small blonde eyeing him archly now.

"Just remember, a chick kept you alive all this time. And now a chick likely just helped save our world."

"Hard to forget. I can see why it rankles the ninja, though. All this time, and all the trouble we've had just surviving, and a little redhead walks out of nowhere, and takes out the most powerful guy alive? It's almost….."

"If I could have gotten back into my labs, he wouldn't have been so hot," she told him. "My robots were part of the tech that freak stole to take over the world in the first place. My work, and James Possible's," she said darkly. "Poor guy."

"I wouldn't let too many people hear you say that. Even I know what comes next."

"Oh," she asked.

"C'mon, Doc," Dash told her. "After these kinds of coupes, someone is always looking to vent on scapegoats. You don't want people thinking you helped that freak in any way, shape, or form."

"Point taken," she grimaced. "Poor Oliver," she sighed. "He never wanted to be a monstrous killing machine," she said.

"None of us wanted this, Doc," Dash told her, glancing around as the people continued to celebrate, and even a few arguments broke out as emotions soared.

In short, it was more normal human behavior. The kind that had been missing for years.

"Still," he said, watching the crowd, "I think we'll make it. Because if one little girl can show us what's possible, I think people are going to start dreaming again. And daring what we had started to think was impossible."

"Nice speech, old man," the blonde scientist told him. "Going to broadcast that one?"

"I might," Dash chortled. "I think I'll be needing a new job soon. Think I have a future in radio?"

She only smiled.

"Let's get that next transport ready. Before some of these people try walking home."

_To Be Continued…._


	6. Chapter 6

_I do not own the characters named herein from Disney, and am only using them for a tale meant for entertainment purposes only._

**Kim Possible: Darker Destiny**

**By LJ58**

**6**

Everyone in Middleton knew when Kim Possible finally came home.

What they didn't know was why, or what she was doing.

For several months, the world's new champion had worked on shutting down Emperor Drakken's power structure, removing his hand-picked puppets, and restoring authority to the people who quickly reelected their own leaders in the vacuum left when Shego proved she really didn't want anything to do with the crumbling empire.

Kim did stay in place to remind people that vendettas, and vengeance weren't going to help anyone. Their country needed help, and healing, not show trials, and purges.

She proved she was earnest when she didn't kill Drakken outright, but imprisoned him, and left him until the government could be restored, and empowered to properly try the madman by law. This in spite of many who demanded his immediate execution.

There were more than a few that demanded Shego be imprisoned, too, at the least.

Not too many of them spoke up in the pair's presence, though. Shego had already proved she was far from reticent in the use of her own powers when she helped Kim take out those that resisted the new changes.

Then, just when things seemed to be moving toward genuine restoration, Kim and Shego personally came to Middleton, carrying a few tons of strange equipment that was all dragged into her own house.

"Don't worry," Kim had told Mayor Hobble, who had been elected in a virtual unanimous vote. "This is for the future of our world. Just consider me just another citizen doing her part," she had smiled, and then barricaded herself in her house with Shego, and several scientists who shared her vision.

Not all did. Some of the men who had actively supported Drakken's mad experiments were actually detained to keep them from proving a greater danger in the future. Science, they all knew, didn't have the best reputation in their world just then. Kim was working to change that.

Which was why all those scientists once working on weapons, and mind control were now tasked with rebuilding their country, and their shattered environment.

Bonnie heard about Kim's return, and heard, too, that her brothers had been more than furious that she had overthrown the emperor. The two genuinely evil little freaks had been so angry they actually tried to kill her.

Only even they were hard-pressed to stand against Shego, and so they had gone into hiding. No one was looking very hard for them, though. Just now, the world, and especially the nation was more concerned with restoring its former equilibrium, and families were coming back together as people only now learned the true horrors of the Wastelands beyond the still habitable portions of their fractured country.

Bonnie had watched when Kim and Shego had come to Middleton.

And she waited, but the pair never even looked her way.

Then, just as suddenly, they departed, leaving the scientists behind to take care of whatever they had been doing. Almost as soon as they had departed, the first missiles fell.

No one knew who launched them.

No one knew why.

But it was all agreed that they seemed focused on the single house in a particular neighborhood. Once again, death had come to Middleton.

Bonnie was actually glad she didn't live in that part of town any longer. If she had, she might well have died that day, too.

**KP**

Ron watched from outside town, his vantage point letting him watch the smoke still rising from the craters in his old neighborhood.

"I think this proves the woman isn't in control of everything," he said grimly as he watched the people he had yet to approach scramble to help those that survived the apparent attack.

Brick, and Dr. Porter stood with him, Yori watching their backs as they were still in a dangerous location considering how close they were to this side of the Wastelands beyond.

"What now?"

He looked back at Brick, and then glanced at Dr. Porter.

"You two were going home. Remember. Go help. For now, I'm going to try to get back to whatever is left of Yamanouchi. Yori's right. I'm still not…..what I should be. Or I would have been worthy of the true power of the Clan. And the Lotus Blade. I'm going to find out if I can be. Then, either way….. I'll be back."

"Good luck, bro. We'll be watching for you," Ben told him, holding out a big hand.

"Just watch your back, you moron. Things aren't over yet. That pretty much proves it," he said, glancing back at the craters in the heart of town.

"You have anyone left," Dr. Porter asked Ben when the two ninja left, never looking back. She already knew his parents had died, but he never mentioned anyone else.

"I was thinking about looking up a girl I met recently. She kind of…..appealed to me," Ben smiled.

"Rockwaller?"

"Yeah. She's supposed to be a friend of Possible, too, you know. She might just know more than she let even Ron know," Ben suggested.

"So, you're not as thick you let everyone think," the woman smirked.

"Touché, Blondie," he grinned. "Still, looks like they do still need help. That's our cue. Right?"

"Yes. Yes, it is," she nodded. "Let's go down, and introduce ourselves."

"Right behind you," he told her. "Soon as I get my _friend._ Just in case," he said, scooping up his rifle he felt as if he were naked without these days. "Just in case," he winked.

"I would worry if you didn't remember that," she smirked, and patted her own holster at her side. "Let's go home, Mr. Flagg," she told him. "It's been too long already."

"Couldn't agree more," he nodded, and followed her down the hill, toward the town that had always been home to him even when all else had been lost.

**KP**

James Possible blinked, and looked around.

"My God," he rasped, seeing nothing but gleaming computer consoles, and Spartan walls around him. "Where am I?"

A door opened as if on cue, and a strangely familiar redhead entered.

"You're safe, sweetheart," Ann smiled at him. "You're finally safe."

"But…. Drew? What happened? He was insane. Planned to use my cybertronic program to…. To….."

"Calm down, dad. It's over."

He looked past his wife, and frowned.

"Kim? You…. You grew up," the man sputtered in confusion. "When….? How….?"

"Long story, dad. But Drew's the one on ice now," she grinned. "And ironically, we owe it all to Shego."

"Shego! That woman tried to….!"

"Dad, calm down," Kim smiled as she hugged him, tears in her eyes. "If it weren't for her, you'd have been dead years ago. She's the one that talked Drakken into just freezing you, instead of killing you. She actually saved your life."

"She did," he frowned. "But….why?"

"I guess she had her reasons. I think, at heart, she's a good woman. She was just stuck in a bad place, and needed someone to show her how to get out of it," Kim declared.

"Let me guess," James sighed, relaxing as he hugged his wife and daughter as they helped him sit up.

"Our little Kimmie-Cub is changing the world, James," Ann smiled. "Now, if we could only get our boys back under control."

"Mom," Kim blushed at her nickname.

"The boys," James echoed.

"It's a long story, dear," Ann told him. "And we need to go. This place is slated for demolition soon."

"Uh, where are we?"

"Drakken's palace," Kim said, turning away now as Ann helped him stand, and get dressed.

"Drew...has a palace," James frowned.

"He built it on what was left of New York," Ann told him.

"What was left…. He didn't," he groaned.

"There's nothing left. He really made a mess," Kim told him. "And we need to clean it up."

"Darn right we will," James said after a moment. "So, let me get caught up, and then….."

"Kimmie," Shego walked in just then, making James cringe at the sight of her.

"Hey, Shego," Kim actually smiled at her. "What's up?"

"Someone just blew your house up, Princess. If we hadn't left early like you wanted, we'd have still been inside when the missiles hit."

"Missiles," Kim exclaimed. "The town? How bad….?"

"Bad. But it was restricted to your neighborhood. Someone has a serious mad-on for you."

"Or you," Ann remarked as she eyed Shego. "You were there, too."

"Maybe….both of us," Kim murmured.

"The boys," they both said grimly.

"What boys," James demanded archly. "And why are you dressed like that," he now demanded of his wife as if only noticing her garments.

Ann sighed.

"You have a lot of catching up to do, sweetie. But we'd better not waste time here. Let's go. Before our boys do anything else."

"Wait. _Our_ boys fired missiles at _our_ house? But, why?"

Shego and Kim shared a grim expression, and Kim sighed as she looked at her father with a curious expression.

"Not everyone was happy to see Drakken defeated, dad. The twins actually liked working for him. A lot."

"My sons… Worked with Drew? Doing what?"

"Killing people," Shego told him bluntly.

"Well, we'll see about that," James Possible all but growled now. "Let's go. It's time to stop this nonsense, and now!"

"Told you," Kim smiled at Shego, and followed him out.

Even as James stopped in the very long hall, looked bewildered, and asked, "Uh, where are we going now?"

Even Shego laughed.

**KP**

Jim Possible walked out of the rubble long after the last rescue efforts had ended, and looked back at his equally bedraggled twin who had helped him dig their way out of their underground bunker under their underground lab where they had been hiding.

"All that work, for nothing," he complained.

"Yes," Tim muttered sourly. "They didn't even stay for the surprise. What spoilsports," he complained. "They had to go and leave before their surprise arrived."

"What do we do now?"

"The only obvious direction is forward. If Kim Possible thinks she will overshadow us," he growled indignantly, "Then she will learn what a costly mistake she has made."

"Indeed," Jim murmured. "I think, however, we should….retire the name Possible. She has blighted our family honor but good with her…..grandstanding."

"I agree," Tim murmured, and looked around the nearly leveled neighborhood they had firebombed themselves in an attempt to be rid of the brainless woman that should have been disposed of years ago.

They had deemed her harmless, though. Ineffectual. Worthless.

"Yes," Jim nodded. "From now on, we are…"

The pair paused, glancing at one another, and their smiles growing slightly.

"_Gemini_," they hissed as one in subdued fury, certain they would soon teach their treacherous sibling the cost of defying the emperor.

And most especially them.

_End…..?_


End file.
